


Growing/Learning/Loving Together!

by Guardian_of_the_4th_Wall



Series: For the Love of Honey and Mori! [1]
Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-02 23:59:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5268758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guardian_of_the_4th_Wall/pseuds/Guardian_of_the_4th_Wall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the story of Honey and Takashi's childhood. How they met, how they fell in love, and the lives they led prior to the Host Club. As we will soon learn, their lives were not quite as easy or carefree as Honey's smile and Takashi's silent demeanor would have you believe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. ...and so Honey met him...

The Haninozuka manor was very old though well maintained so it didn’t have the look of being decrepit. Rather it felt very much like you took a trip back in time to the ancient days when Samurais were commonplace, and dying for a purpose was considered honorable.

When Mitsukuni was very young he spent his days like most children. He would wake up to cartoons, his favorite was Dogami which featured a dark and cruel Samurai who went around enacting tough justice on all his opponents. He would go to school, he would study. He would eat dinner with his family. Though there were some things he would do that most did not consider “like most children.”

Being the first born heir to his family he had to live up to its name. That meant practicing diligently (everyday) the martial arts style that his family was known for, and he was a bit of a natural when it came to this. Not perfect though, he had to learn and practice techniques just like anyone, and also just like anyone there were times when he would fail. Though he had a knack for picking things up. A technique that might take someone a year to master only took him a few months. A technique that might take a week to learn, he acquired in days.

“Your son is amazing,” one of the servants was telling Haninozuka-san as Mitsukuni was on the dojo floor practicing, they had just walked by the open door of one of their families’ dojos.

“But of course he is…” Haninozuka-san said boastfully. “He is MY son after all. I’m going to talk to my brother about moving him out of the children’s classes and putting him in with his older cousins.”

“Are you sure he’s ready, that other class is only for middle schoolers… Bocchan isn’t even in middle school yet…”

“He can handle it, I believe in him,” Haninozuka-san said and they walked on disappearing out of view.

Mitsukuni who had heard his father’s praise smiled, he was going to get to be in the middle school group! As far as he knew, no one his age had ever been put in the middle school group…

* * *

“Is he okay?” asked a woman with long black hair and dark brown eyes as she spoke with the psychiatrist. She was wearing a meticulous kimono, and looked to be the spitting image of a Japanese Princess, as though someone had ripped her right out of a fairytail.

“He seems fine. Other than the fact that he isn’t speaking, I don’t see any signs of him lacking mentally or physically with other children his age. You shouldn’t worry, I’m sure he’ll speak in his own time…”

She turned back to look at her child, who was practicing Kendo techniques with a small, child-size bamboo kendo sword. “Takashi is my only child…”

“I understand miss,” he said consoling her. “But really. He seems fine.”

With that the psychiatrist left and she walked out to her son. He stopped when he saw her and stared up at her questionably. “Taka-chan,” she said smiling. “Can you say hi to Mommy?”

“…” he continued to stare up at her blankly, and she sighed pulling him close into a hug. “It’s okay if you don’t want to speak. I will love you, even if you never speak…”

* * *

“Are you kidding me! That brat is barely old enough to be in the children’s group, and you want to bump him up to be with the middle school students that I teach!” Hasuru (Mitsukuni’s uncle) snapped over dinner.

“He has already beaten the students in his own age group, he won’t improve unless he’s challenged,” Mitsukuni’s father said, turning to his son he smiled. “Mitsukuni, don’t you want to be in the next level?”

“Yes!” Mitsukuni said cheerfully.

“There you go,” Haninozuka-san said as though this settled the entire matter.

“I’m not teaching this little sh*t until he’s old enough. He doesn’t get a free pass just because he’s your brat,” Hasuru exclaimed.

“Language!” snapped the voice of a woman who had just come around the corner entering the room. She was wearing a Japanese robe and had beautiful white hair. Mitsukuni turned when he heard her and jumped up running over to her.

“Oba-chan!” Mitsukuni called, and she bent down picking him up and hugged him. The two of them sat back down and her eyes glared in Hasuru’s direction. “What have I told you about speaking that way in front of Mi-chan. He doesn’t need to be hearing that sort of language!”

Hasuru did look slightly embarrassed, and Mitsukuni’s father leaned for cheerfully. “Mother, I was just talking to Hasuru. I think Mitsukuni should move on to the next level.”

“That’s a great idea,” she said ruffling Mitsukuni’s hair lightly and smiling down at him as he ate one of the rice balls that his Mother had made into the shape of a bunny.

“He’s too young! He’ll get hurt, I’m not going to—”

“You will train him!” she snapped sternly. “I was going to suggest that he move up in a few days anyway. So either you will train him or you will no longer be teaching our middle school family members…”

Mitsukuni’s Grandmother was the head of their house, and had been ever since Mitsukuni’s grandfather had died. However, that had been before he was born, so he never had a chance to meet him.

That night he was so excited to begin practicing with the older students that he went to the dojo to practice on his own. He really liked back flips, so he tried adding kick with it. Having never tried this particular move he ended up losing his footing and fell onto the dojo mat. Laughing at himself he got back to his feet to try again.

“—And they want you to move up a level?”

Mitsukuni blinked turning in the direction of the voice and saw his Uncle Hasuru standing there.

“Hi Oji-sama.”

“That’s Sensei to you. I’m about to be your teacher. The least you could do is show me some god-damn respect…”

“…” Mitsukuni frowned. He thought he had when he put sama instead of san on his name.

“If you’re falling like that, what makes you think you’re going to match up to the students in the next level?”

“Uh… Cause I’m going to try really hard…” he said frowning.

“Oh, you’re going to try really hard huh?” he snickerd maliciously. “Don’t make me laugh Mi-chan. You’re not talented or the appropriate age to be in that level. You’re going to get hurt if you try fighting beyond your means…”

Mitsukuni’s frown deepened. He wanted to say that he didn’t think their level was beyond his means at all, but talking back to his Uncle wasn’t wise, especially if he was going to be his teacher soon.

“Get your ass to bed Mi-chan,” his uncle snapped. “You’re not supposed to be in the dojo this late anyway…”

With that his uncle left, and frowning Mitsukuni walked out of the Dojo and closed the sliding door behind him.

* * *

“Mitsukuni,” his father said the next morning at breakfast. “One of your cousins is coming to play with you today, so be nice to him alright.”

“Which one?” Mitsukuni asked. With two grandparents who had each been one of nine children, A mother who was one of five, and with a father who was the eldest of seven, he had more cousins than he could keep track of…

“Takashi. You remember Takashi don’t you?”

Mitsukuni frowned thinking through the faces of all the cousins he could picture but no one named Takashi crossed his mind. “I don’t remember.”

“Well, that’s all right. He kept to himself a lot during family reunions. Anyway, his parents are concerned because he doesn’t speak.”

“Why not?” Mitsukuni asked frowning.

“We don’t know. But you have such an outgoing personality, we were hoping you could get him to talk,” his Father said hopefully.

“I’ll try Papa-san…” Mitsukuni said cheerfully.

“Ah, that’s a good boy!” he said ruffling his hair. Mitsukuni was very used to that, as all his family members seemed to want to touch his hair at some point. He like his father, had blond hair which was very uncommon in their family. In fact there were only three members of their family who had blonde hair. That was himself, his Father, and his Grandmother. Though because she was older, the color had been scared away. So now it looked white.

A few hours later Mitsukuni was told that his cousin was waiting for him in the guest receiving area. Which was the place they told all guests to wait until the person they were there to see was ready to receive them.

Happily, he hurried to the room sliding the door open.

Takashi looked like all his other cousins. Black hair, dark eyes. He was wearing a dark robe too, and he looked… sad.

"Hi Takashi!" he said happily running over to him. "Papa-san told me I should come play with you!"

Takashi stared blankly up at him, his first thoughts of Mitsukuni, was that he was loud.

"They said you don't talk, will you talk to me? Please?" the boy said sitting down in front of him smiling. Takashi stared at him wondering how he could have forgotten a cousin of his who had such strange hair.

"My name is Mitsukuni Haninozuka," Mitsukuni said staring up at him, and he noticed that Takashi's eyes widened slightly after he introduced himself. It was very strange to have a conversation with someone who was refusing to talk back to you.

"Hey I know, wanna go play with me!" Mitsukuni said. "I like sparing, do you spar at all?"

As expected, Takashi sat there unmoving…

So Mitsukuni grabbed his arm forcing him to his feat he practically dragged him to the door, when he stopped suddenly, looking at him, "Hnnnn… You know… You're short!"

Takashi felt a strong poke of annoyance at that comment. He didn’t like being called short, and he was often, especially in school. Mitsukuni placed a hand on Takashi’s head and moved it over so it met his forehead. "It's okay, since you're little I'll take care of you! So let's go outside and play!"

Mitsukuni took his hand again and he led him out to a clearing in the woods behind his house.

“Ne ne… Takashi!” Mitsukuni said smiling. He ran over and picked up a frog bringin it back to him. “Look at this guy! Isn’t he cute!”

He held out Takashi’s hands so the palms faced the sky, and he put the frog on them, though the next second it had jumped off and back onto the ground.

“Oh… you were supposed to hold him,” Mitsukuni said frowning, and he looked around. “Oh I know.”

He ran over to a tree with a fluffy caterpillar on it and he pulled it off running back to Takashi with it. “Look at this little guy!”

Takashi didn’t move but continued to stare blankly at him, so Mitsukuni put the caterpillar on the side of his face watching it craw up him.

He snickered at that, “Hhmm… what else can we find… Takashi at least help me look for things…”

Takashi turned his head left, and then right, and leaned down picking up a stick. He walked over to Mitsukuni tapping him on the shoulder. He looked back at the stick Takashi held out to him and frowned. “Uh… well, that’s interesting I guess… But it’s just a stick. We’re looking for things we don’t get to see everyday.”

Mitsukuni turned back searching a nearby bush for something cool. Takashi looked down at the stick he was holding. He hadn’t shown it to Mitsukuni because it was a stick. He had been trying to show it to Mitsukuni because it had all these cool swirly markings on it. Probably from a bug who had ate tunnels around it. But because he couldn’t speak… he could tell Mitsukuni that that was why…

Frowning slightly, he let the stick fall to the ground…

The two spent a good portion of the day out in the woods behind Mitsukuni's house and when they returned Mitsukuni still hadn't got him to speak. They walked up to Mitsukuni's father who was standing on the porch with Takashi's father, both boy were covered in dirt and muck from their adventures outside.

"Did you succeed?" Mitsukuni’s Father asked him.

"No Papa-san…" Mitsukuni said turning back to Takashi looking sad, and Takashi felt like someone had grabbed his heart and squeezed it from the look he had given him. "He won't talk no matter what I do…"

"Well, it seems this was hopeless then… Thanks for your help Huninozuka-san…" Takashi's father said sighing. "We'll be leaving then…"

"Until our family reunion," Mitsukuni's father said waving.

Family reunion… Takashi felt suddenly scared. They only had family reunions once a year. If that. He wouldn’t see his new friend for that long. A creeping sense of loneliness seemed to settle into his chest. Mori’s family lived so far out in the country that he didn’t have people his own age to play with, not even classmates because his parents hired a private tutor to teach him everything he needed to know.

Takashi’s father picked him up and they got into their limo. It had begun to move down the road leading to Mitsukuni’s home when they heard his small voice calling to them to wait.

His father hit a button and the window on Takashi’s side of the car slid down. Small fingers grasped the edge of it and Mitsukuni’s little blond head peeked up into the car and his shoulders followed until he was leaning on the door with both arms.

"Cousin Takashi!" he said smiling brightly. "You can come back and play with me next week okay! And any week after!"

Takashi simply blinked at him before his cousin’s smiling face slid down and ran back to his father. Takashi turned around in his seat to watch Mitsukuni run back. He felt happy about being invited back, but also sad that his new friend was running the opposite direction… away from him…

"Well, how about it Takashi, would you like to come back and play with your cousin sometime?"

Takashi nodded not sitting the correct way in his seat until Mitsukuni could no longer be seen, and not even until his house was no longer in sight.

“Takashi, sit straight please,” his Father said.

Takashi did, and his Father let out a small gasp of surprise. “Takashi, you have a caterpillar in your hair…”

He reached up and pulled the same Caterpillar that Mitsukuni had put in his hair. Smiling, he spent the car ride petting it with his pink finger. So as not to hurt it…

* * *

“Whaa!” Mitsukuni gasped when he fell backwards after trying to avoid a kick from his Uncle.

Hasuru who had made such a big deal about Mitsukuni not being old enough to be in that level of training, did not put him up against the kids in class. Instead he spent the entire class sparing with him personally and Mitsukuni could barely keep up.

“C’mon Mi-chan… is that the best you can do? I thought you were supposed to belong in this level, and yet you can’t even keep up…”

Mitsukuni frowned sitting up after what felt like his 30th time being knocked to the ground.

“Leave if you’re not going to take this class seriously…” Hasuru snapped at him, making him a bit of a spectacle in front of the other students.

“I am,” Mitsukuni said defiantly.

“I am… what?”

“I am Sensei…” he said getting back to his feet.

“Well then, maybe it’s just today. Is that it? Is your stomach hurting? Maybe you want some milk, is that it little Mi-chan…”

Mitsukuni frowned finding it very hard to not cry from the frustration of it all.

“Well, then. I think you have wasted enough of this class’ time. Come back tomorrow if you think you can deal with the rigorous training at this level, and if you can’t don’t bother showing up…” he snapped.

Mitsukuni left feeling both weak and humiliated. He had to walk by the kitchen to go to his room and as he did so he saw his mother leaning on a chair to reach into the stove. She was a very short woman so she needed a stool to do most things in their house.

“Hi Mi-chan,” she said as he walked by. “Are you done training for today?”

“I guess so…” he said frowning and entering the kitchen.

“Do you have time to try one of your Mama’s cookies?”

“Yea!” he said cheerfully hurrying over as she used gloves to take one of the cookies that had just came out of the oven and she put it on a small plate. “Now be careful Mi-chan, it’s hot.”

Honey blew on his cookie to cool it down and took a bite of the bunny shaped cookie.

“Mama-san,” he said. “Why are all your cookies shaped like bunnies?” he asked staring up at her.

“Because I bake cookies for my little Honey bunny…” she said smiling at him.

“Who’s that?”

“You!” she said placing a finger on his nose, and he smiled at her.

All of a sudden, her eyes got very sad looking and she hugged him. “Mi-chan… promise me something…”

“Hhh?”

“Promise me you’ll stay this sweet and adorable forever.”

Honey blinked at her thinking about the idea. It’s not like it was a hard promise to keep. “Of course Mama-san, I promise!”

Her face lit up once again and she kissed his forehead before taking the tray of cookies with her down the hall. Mitsukuni could hear her asking passersby if they wanted one.

 _I can do that_ , he thought to himself. _I can be sweet forever, and I can handle this level of training. I just have to work harder…_


	2. The Time of Innocence

Honey would train every morning and every night. He used to like training, but he didn't anymore. Now that his uncle was his Sensei, training wasn't fun. Failing wasn't an opportunity to improve (as it used to be). Failing was now embarrassing, and shameful. His uncle took every opportunity that Honey failed to land a kick or succeed in a move, to display it before the other students and tell them what a poor student he was.

This particular morning Honey was trying to master an off the wall kick. Where you run towards a wall (as if running away from your opponent), but would kick off from it and then land a kick to your opponents face. It was his eighth try so far, but he didn't seem to have enough strenght to manage the kick off and get high enough to land his kick to the opponent.

"See? Everyone are you watching?" Hasuru announced to his students as Honey failed yet again. "This is what happens when favoritism pushes students up in their levels. Now, how about it Mi-chan. Go back to the lower level before you get hurt."

All of Hasuru's students looked upset, some of these students were the children of other martial artist families who were training under them. Some of them where Honey's cousins. Though all of them silently agreed on one fact. Hasuru was a terrible teacher.

Honey got to his feet and tried again, and he failed again. He fell on his back breathing hard. He played out his last motions in his mind, and wondered just what it was that he had done wrong... Maybe it was his speed. Maybe he wasn't approaching the wall fast enough...

Grinning his uncle looked down at him. "Well, Mi-chan... stop wasting everyone's time. Go back..."

"I'll get it," Honey said sitting up. "I just have to keep practicing."

"Why? So you can waste even more of our time?" he asked frowning. "I want you to leave, you can come back when you have mastered this kick."

Honey frowned. "I'm not leaving..."

"Oh... I'm your Sensei, you have to do what I tell you to do. Now get out of my dojo," Hasuru explained simply before turning to the other students. "We will begin today's lesson by—"

"I'm NOT leaving," Honey said getting to his feet.

Hasuru turned slowly to him. "Oh? Alright then. If you think you know more then me. Let's have a match then. If you win, I will never again make you leave a lesson. If I win. You will sit on the sidelines and watch the other students have their lessons until you are of the appropriate age to be here. Is that understood?"

"I..." Honey frowned. He knew he couldn't beat his uncle. He was a little kid, a student. His uncle was fully grown man, not to mention a Master of their families' style. In addition to that he was the tallest person in their family. Honey frowned. "There is no way I can win Sensei..." he admitted.

"Well, if you're not even going to try," he said grinning. "At least have the decency to fail, like a man. Instead of giving up before you've even tried..." he spat before turning back to his students.

"Okay!" Honey said loudly. "I'll fight you..."

"Alright then..." Hasuru said grinning.

Honey knew he was going to fail. But his uncle was right about one thing. According to his family. There was more shame in not trying, then failing. So he couldn't not attempt...

The both took their stances, and all the students were dead silent watching them face off. As Honey had predicted. He was not fast enough. His uncle moved quicker than Honey could see. He brought his fist straight to Honey's face, and Honey was so surprised he fell back on the ground. "Stupid boy... I didn't even touch you..." he snickered, and he addressed the class before saying the second line, "He's falling down from nothing."

Honey laid there frowning... How could he move _that_ fast? He didn't even see it...

Honey was contemplating what he would have to do to be that fast with his punches when Hasuru walked over placing his foot on the center of Honey's forearm. "Looks like I win," he said grinning, and he stepped down. Honey had never felt so much pain in his whole life (thus far). He instantly felt his eyes water and the pain radiated through his whole arm.

"Now. Since I won, go sit against the wall and observe the class in silence," he snapped before removing his foot and turning back to his class. The entire class looked terrified. Honey pulled himself up with his only good arm. With difficulty, he got to his feet and did as he was told. He sat on the edge of the dojo mats and observed. His arm screaming in pain all the while.

* * *

Honey's arm continued to hurt all the way through their family dinner. Where he was asked three times by his mother and twice by his father if he was alright. Honey was normally smiling and contributing to their conversations when they would have dinner, but today he was being very quiet and hardly eating anything. Honey didn't want to talk though. If he did, he was sure he would cry from the pain in his arm, and he didn't want to give his uncle the satisfaction of knowing how badly he had actually hurt him.

"Mi-chan learned a very important lesson today," Hasuru said callously. "It'll take him awhile to get over it..."

He didn't sleep all night. Nothing he did made the pain stop, and he had tried a few different things. So he just laid in bed and tried to move it as little as possible. By the next day it was swollen even worse then it had when the injury first occurred. He wrapped it lightly, and at training that day he sat on the side lines as he had been told, and his Uncle seemed satisfied with that.

That night, Honey didn't go to their family dinner at all, saying he didn't feel well. By this point Honey was really worried. The pain was worse, and he was beginning to wonder if he would ever be able to fight again, maybe this pain would just last forever. That thought made him nauseous. It was the worst pain he had ever felt in his life, and if it was never going away. Then what was he supposed to do?

Honey would get hurt all the time. He was a very adventurous boy so he would always be crawling into places he shouldn't be or climbing up really tall trees when he wasn't supposed to be. Being an adventurous child came with bumps and bruises and various other injuries.

Honey was sitting under the porch. Which was his typical, I'm feeling bad, hiding place. So when his grandmother came to visit that day and was told Honey did not wish to come to dinner. She knew just where to find him.

Crouching down near the entrance to Honey's hideaway spot his grandmother softly called his name. "Mi-chan? Are you in there?"

"Uh-huh..." Honey answered.

"Will you come out and talk to your Oba-chan?" she asked.

"No..." Honey answered.

"I see," she said sitting on the ground. "Why don't you want to eat dinner?"

"..."

"Mi-chan, come out here and talk to me," she ordered. "Now Mi-chan..."

Honey shuffled his way out avoiding putting weight on his arm, and sat on the ground in front of her. She sat down with him. "My, Mi-chan you look pale. Are you ill?"

"No," Honey said frowning. "I'm sad..."

"Oh, you're sad... I see. How come?"

"..."

His Grandmother sighed, "You don't want to tell me?"

"You'll be sad..." Honey said.

"Oh... will you tell me anyway?"

Honey frowned. He couldn't avoid it forever. He would have to tell him Grandmother that he would never be able to train again...

"Oba-chan..." he said looking up at her. "I can't train anymore. I'm not going to be a fighter like you and Papa-san..."

She looked genuinely surprised at that. "Do you not like training anymore Mi-chan?"

"It's not that," Honey admitted. "I love training... I like learning new things and being able to show you and Papa-san what I've learned."

"Then, why do you want to quit baby?" she said softly seeing that her grandson was about to cry.

"I don't want to. I have to. I got hurt the other day, and I can't fight anymore because of it..."

She blinked at him. "You got hurt?" she said softly. "Where?"

He sniffed, and with great care he rolled up the sleeve on his injured arm, and his Grandmother's expression fell. "MI-CHAN! How long has your arm been like this!?" she exclaimed.

"Two days," Honey said frowning. "It's not getting any better either..."

"Mi-chan, look at this your arm is broken. Something like that isn't going to heal on it's own!"

Honey frowned. "It's not!"

"No of course it's..." she stopped realizing right now he needed a doctor. She picked him up and walked back into the family dinner and show Honey's arm to his Father. She got on the phone to call their private physician while he examined it.

"Mi-chan, if you're injured you should tell your Mother or me... This is serious. You can't let injuries like this go untreated," his father scolded. "How did this happen?"

"I... hurt it while training..." Honey said, and his mother rushed in the room with some ice and placed it on Honey's arm making him wince.

"Where?" his Grandmother said sternly. "Were you outside, exactly what happened?"

Honey's frown deepened.

"It happened at my dojo," Hasuru suddenly pipped up. "I told you he was too young to fight with older kids..."

"One of the kids did this?" his Grandmother exclaimed. "Which one?"

"Me," Hasuru stated simply, and the room got ungodly quiet. Honey wasn't sure why his Grandmother suddenly looked so furious.

"You! What the hell are you doing, using that much force on a child!" she snapped.

"He was mouthing off, and he challenged me..." Hasuru said shrugging. "Well, needless to say, he lost."

"How dare you!" she snapped walking over to him. "I don't care what the circumstances are, you are an adult. You are supposed to be in control of the situation at all times, and the safety of your students is your number one priority."

"Well maybe if my brother over there had taught his son some better manners, he wouldn't have gotten hurt," Hasuru snapped. "He needs to learn that the world isn't gong to cater to him just because he's the next heir to our family."

"Get out."

That caught Hasuru by surprise and he looked up into the face of Honey's Grandmother... HIS mother...

"Ma..." he said in a much softer tone than he had been using. "I was just teaching the brat a lesson. There is no need to get so upset... It wouldn't even have happened if Mitsukuni hadn't—"

"Get out of this house, and don't you ever return..." she said with such a determined stare that Hasuru almost couldn't believe it.

"Ma..."

"I will not repeat myself again."

Honey felt like crying for a whole different reason than his arm.

"Right... fine!" Hasuru snapped standing up he threw his wine glass against the wall. "Take Brother's fucking side again!"

With that Hasuru stormed out of the room...

It was almost completely silent as they waited for their families' doctor to show up, and when he did. He gave Honey something for the pain. Took X-rays and reset his arm. Whatever he had been given made him drowsy so he fell asleep. He didn't even remember the doctor leaving.

* * *

Honey was told to take it easy on his arm, and so he would play outside, but in a safe manner so as to do nothing to injure his arm further. In an effort to make Mitsukuni happy, his Grandmother even moved in for awhile. Before Honey knew it, the Morinozuka branch of his family tree had come back to visit.

"Ah, your son has been injured…" Mori's father said solemnly.

"It was due to a family problem, you need not worry yourself… He will be fine with time."

"So should we postpone their playdate to another time then— " no sooner were the words out of his mouth that Honey came running into the room his arm in a sling. He hurried over to Takashi.

"Takashi! Let's go play!"

"Uh! Mitsukuni, you should take it easy so you don't injure your arm any further," his father said looking slightly worried.

"It's okay Papa-san," Honey said smiling. "I have a whole other arm that's fine!"

With that he grabbed Takashi's arm and hurried off with him to the Forrest, where (like last time) he tried to show him anything and everything that would make him talk. Mori did not speak on this occasion either however he kept staring at Honey's arm…

When Honey noticed this he looked down at his cast, "Oh, do you wanna know what happened?"

Mori shook his head yes.

"Well… I was too slow," Honey said simply. "I was too slow, and so I got hurt. But it's okay, because I'll be faster next time. I train every morning with my family so I can only improve… right?"

Mori stared…

"Say… why don't you talk? Do you not want to, or can't you?"

"…"

"Hmmm…" Honey frowned, and leaned so he could look up into Mori's down-turned expression. "It's okay if you don't want to talk. It's okay, if you never talk. I'll still play with you even if you don't…"

Honey turned walking further into the forest, "I wish you would though, life is more interesting when people can express their feelings and have conversations…"

Mori blinked at him as though he were seeing Honey for the first time.

That day in the woods was quite interesting. They found a bug neither of them had ever seen before, and had chased a Rabbit a good distance before they lost sight of it and couldn't find it anymore. Honey was kind of sad, because he wanted to see where it lived. Amazingly, Mori had gotten a bird to eat right out of his hand when they had found a small stream where many birds were. As it started to rain they hurried home, and made it back a minute after the downpour started so the two of them were soaked! Smiling their father's gave them towels and Honey told them about all the things they saw in the woods.

Mori's father turned to his son, "What did you see that was interesting today Takashi?"

"…"

"Ah still," his father sighed ruffling his wet hair. "C'mon, the servants should have dinner done by now. Let's all go eat…"

* * *

Many weeks passed where Takashi would visit the Haninozuka estate, and as always he refused to speak. Though his father had seen a change in him… Despite not talking, he seemed livelier. One night Honey offered him some food and Takashi ate so much he had to go to the hospital that night.

Later, it was decided that Takashi was better off when he was around Honey. So the family moved to a mountain manor very close to the Haninozuka estate. Thus the two boys could then see each other every day.

And that meant they played together almost every day!

* * *

Honey and Mori would do all sorts of things together. And as the two got to know each other they were more comfortable doing outlandish things together. Mori still wasn't talking but Honey seemed to understand what he was thinking and feeling even though he didn't talk.

As for the outlandish things they would do together. They would get in trouble together. Sometimes the two would play spy and start at one side of Mitsukuni's large family estate, and they would try to get all the way to the other side and sneak into the kitchen to steal cookies, all without being seen by anyone! At first this was a rather harmless game. If they were spotted by anyone they would shuffle back to their starting point and try again, and after awhile they decided to do things to make it more interesting. Like sneaking across the estate during a rather formal party hosted by Mitsukuni's Father. They played it once in the pouring rain. Covering themselves with mud in the process to (as Honey had put it) obscure their scent. His Grandmother didn't mind them playing. That was, until one night when the boys decided it would be fun to tell everyone they would be at Takashi's house. Then they would sneak back in the dead of night when all their security cameras and motion detectors were on. One of them tripped one of the alarms. So of course (being a family of fighters) the most skilled among them descended upon the area like a swat team ready to take out their target. When his Grandmother and Father saw it was just the two of them they were scolded and sentenced to helping the servants do chores the following day for the entire day.

Honey's parent's and Grandmother quickly learned that sentencing the two boys to be together was hardly a punishment. In fact, after awhile Honey seemed to plan small acts of disobedience so Takashi would get in trouble with him and then they would have to do a punishment together (which more often than not resulted in Takashi spending the night). After all, if you were sentencing the boys to weeding vegetable patches at sunrise, you couldn't really send Takashi home. Even though the Morinozuka's had moved closer to the Haninozuka household, they were still a good hour away.

One day, Honey's grandmother caught them talking while they were supposed to be dicing celery (as a punishment). Because dicing celery was normally servant work. Honey was writing messages to Takashi in the celery, and Takashi would write him back before they would dice it up destroying any evidence.

However, the first time the boys got in trouble, where the parents thought to separate them for their punishment, it had been a disaster. Mitsukuni's father had forbidden Takashi from coming over to play for a whole week!

Oh how Honey had cried. Honey's Grandmother never recalled another time Honey had cried so much. Little Honey had even gone so far as to barricade him and Takashi in the family bathhouse so he couldn't go home. This had lasted about two hours. Mitsukuni's father was on his last nerve and about ready to kick the door down, when his Mother had come out with cakes that smelled delicious...

Honey's resolve was waning, and he kept peeking out the window at them. Takashi had apparently had enough of seeing Honey so torn, because he gave himself up and a few minutes later, Honey was sitting on their families porch with a tear-stained face as he waved goodbye to Takashi with one hand. A cake in the other.

That had been one of the hardest weeks for either family to endure. They all agreed that to teach them a lesson they had to stick to the week long ban from each other. But neither family liked seeing their boys so miserable.

Honey did not train the entire week Takashi was away from him. Neither did Mori. Honey spent a lot of time outside wandering around with a stick, where he would poke at random things he saw. The worst and more heartbreaking symptom Honey displayed during his week away from Mori, was that he never smiled once. And for Honey it was normally rare to not see a smile on his face, and now nothing they did could get him to show one. The symptoms Mori displayed were worse but not quite as heartbreaking for his family. Mori was always quiet and withdrawn. But since he had been hanging out with Honey, he had opened up. In fact, before the dreaded separation week that had occurred Mori was almost seeming like a normal child. He still wasn't talking but he was communicating in a lot of other ways. He had taken up calligraphy, he would hug his Mother. He would respond with nods or shakes to his head at his Father's questions. He would even help his younger cousins with kendo training. But when that week happened Mori was acting exactly the same way he had acted before he had met Honey. Withdrawn... Secluded... Alone...

Everyone was happy when the week was over. But no one was as happy as Honey and Mori, who both ran to each other when Takashi stepped out of his families' limo. The family seemed to have silently agreed that no matter what the boys did. Nothing they could do was worth the punishment of separating them again. However, Takashi and Honey's days of goofing off and getting into trouble were over. They never wanted to be separated again, and so they went to great lengths to be exceptionally good children.

As time went on Honey's Grandmother was concerned about the fact that both of them had more cousins than they could keep track of, but they had little to no interest in playing with them. That was unless it was a large group game that the pair of them could play in together.

* * *

Then new additions to both those branches of the family arrived. Mori's mother became pregnant.

"That's great!" Honey had said when Takashi's mother told him the news, and at the time Honey really thought it was great news! But after the baby was born. It suddenly wasn't so great...

Takashi had found something he cared about a lot, and it wasn't Honey.

"Isn't it cute," Honey's mother had said looking out the door at Honey and Takashi playing. "I think he's jealous of Satoshi..."

"You think?" Mori's mother said as she held little Satoshi close.

"I wonder what will happen when his brother or sister is born?" she said. Indeed, Honey's mother was showing from a baby of her own.

Suddenly Satoshi began to cry. Takashi looked up immediately and abandoned whatever game/thing the boys had been doing at the time, and he headed over to Satoshi and removed from inside his jacket a small baby toy that squeaked. Which he put in front of the baby's face until it stopped crying.

Honey had pouted, looking upset and stormed over to the table the Mother's had been sitting at. He plopped his folded arms down on it resting his head on them, and he turned on the TV to Dogami frowning. The mother's looked at each other and snickered quietly at Honey's actions. When the baby had stopped crying Takashi tried to go over and play with Honey again, only Honey completely ignored him, and so they spend the rest of the afternoon watching the Dogami marathon, neither looking particularly happy.

When Yasuchika was born everything changed between Honey and Mori. Honey no longer got jealous when he would look after Satoshi, because he had a little brother to look after too now.

"I'm sorry Takashi," Honey had said one afternoon within' earshot of their mothers (though they didn't know they were close enough to hear). "I didn't realize what being a big-brother was like. It's a responsavility..."

Honey had a hard time pronouncing such a big word, and his mother awed over his voice and how cute he was. In silence of course, they didn't want them to know they were listening.

* * *

Mori had gone from being shorter than Honey, to (for some time) being the same height as Honey, and then one day he came to the house after a 3 week vacation with his parents and he was taller than Honey.

As soon as he had stepped out of the car, Honey had raised his a hand put it on top of his own head and moved it across until it hit the top of Mori's forehead. "You grew..." Honey said smiling.

A short time later Takashi came over and Honey found he had to stand on his toes just to reach the same height.

"Maybe you're going through a gross spurt!" Honey said while they ate lunch on Honey's porch.

"It's a growth spurt sweetie," his little mother said happily as she was walking by.

"That's what I said, gross spurt!" Honey repeated.

Frowning Honey looked down at the bun he was eating. "How tall do you think you'll get?"

Mori shrugged.

* * *

It was the first day of Elementary school for the pair of them. Though they should have started before now. Both of them had been home schooled for a time, but their parents had decided that Ouran Elementary would be a fine institution to attend. So they were starting late, but neither was by any means behind. Both of them were brilliant. By their first day Honey had to tilt his head back to look at him, and he was the tallest elementary student in their grade. His uniform had to be picked from the selection of upper grade uniforms. Though they were all designed the same so it didn't matter too much.

Honey was the average height compared to the other students in their grade, which was the last time he would experience this…

* * *

Shortly after their first week of Elementary school the two had been playing in the forest by Honey's house as they often did. But today something different happened…

"Takashi!" Honey called to him smiling. "Look how high I am!"

Honey had climbed almost completely to the top of a tall tree, "Now I'm taller than you!" he said smiling.

Mori looked up at him grinning. Honey couldn't believe how far he could see from the upper branches. He couldn't climb any higher though. The higher you went the thinner and smaller the branches got, and Honey was sitting on the highest branch that he thought would support his weight. So he started to climb down. Six large limbs from the bottom Honey lost his footing and he fell. Mori had spotted this instantly and hurried forward catching him before he hit the ground.

"Wha! Thanks Takash—"

And suddenly, Mori kissed him.

The initial shock took him by surprise, but after a second or so what was happening had hit him and he pushed away clamoring to his feet. "What are you doing?!"

Mori didn't answer but stared at him blankly...

"Takashi! What did you think you were doing?" Honey snapped staring at him.

Without a word Mori walked by him and started looking at a caterpillar. "Takashi! Talk to me!"

Mori however continued to ignore him leaving Honey in a rather annoyed state, and when they walked back up to the house neither of them were looking at the other. Honey's father who was talking with Mori's called to them, "Lunch is ready! Come eat you two!"

They started heading into the next room when Mori suddenly reached out grabbing Honey's sleeve, and Honey turned back to him.

"What? Takashi? What's wrong?" Honey's tone called the attention of their fathers who turned back to look at them.

And then… suddenly…

"I pledge my hands to Mitsukuni Haninozuka," he said.

Everyone there looked completely shocked, at this Mori's father unexpectedly began to laugh. He ran over and hugged his son smiling, "You can talk! You can! Oh your mother will be so happy to hear that!"

Honey felt like his heart had just fallen through the floor. This... This made him Takashi's Master... And Takashi... he was now his servant. He didn't want that. They were supposed to be friends... Masters beat their servants. Masters are mean. Masters are not kind... He knew because he watched Dogami and that show had a Master Samurai and a servant who he treated terribly. Honey didn't want to be mean to Takashi... He didn't want to hurt him...

"Well, it seems it's even in your son's blood to serve our family. Even after two generations…" Honey's father said smiling, and looking down at Honey he added. "Takashi is your servant now Mitsukuni, aren't you happy?"

"NO!" Honey snapped.

The same sense of shocks seemed to echo through the room, but this time it was laced with a sense of foreboding…

"NO! I don't want him to be my servant!" Honey snapped frowning.

"Mitsukuni?" his father said frowning, and suddenly Honey ran out of the room disappearing down the hall…

Takashi frowned his gaze falling to the floor.

"Well…" Honey's father said nervously. "Kids… what can I say? I'm sure he'll come around in a few days…"

* * *

Honey did not come around in a few days. In fact this marked the second week of separation, only this time it was by their choice. Well, mostly Honey's choice. He refused to see Takashi when he would come around, and he refused to accept any items Takashi left for him. *He had been trying to bring him cakes as a peace offering.*

On the last day of the week long separation he was feeling really torn. He hated not seeing Takashi, but he didn't want to be his Master either. He had hidden himself underneath the porch (as he had done many times), and once again his Grandmother found him, though his sniffles from crying would have given him away even if she hadn't already known about his secret hiding place.

"Mi-chan," his Grandmother said to him softly. "Why are you crying?"

She was wearing a kimono and had her long grey strands pulled back into a beautiful bun.

"Ta… Takashi… He pledged his hands to me…" Honey sobbed.

"And that makes you sad?" she questioned her eyebrows raised, frowning slightly as she knelt beside the porch.

"Uh-huh…" Honey said through his sniffles…

"Whatever for?"

"Be… because I… I don't wanna be mean to him!"

Her eyebrow rose questionably. "My goodness Mi-chan… Why on Earth would you ever be mean to him?"

"Because… Ma…Masters beat their servants… Like on… on Dogami…"

His Grandmother snickered at that and held her hands out for Mitsukuni to run into them. Which he did… He never passed up a chance to hug his Grandmother.

"Oh sweetie," she said softly. "Just because your Takashi's Master now, it doesn't mean you have to be mean to him. No, being someone's Master means just the opposite."

Honey blinked looking up at her. "It does?"

"It does!" she assured him. "Because you are his Master, that means you should be very kind to Takashi, and as his Master you should protect him from harm. This is what Masters are supposed to do. They serve and they protect, just like our Family swears to do for anyone in danger. Don't you remember the story of the Monkey King?"

"I never heard that one," Honey answered.

"Well then," she said picking him up she walked over to their swinging Garden bench and sat rocking him softly. "Once upon a time the King of the Monkeys lived by a river and the human King of a nearby country decided to go hunting. What he wanted to hunt more than anything was Monkeys. So the human King and a handful of his men traveled to the forest and found the tree where the Monkeys lived. The Monkey King in order to save his followers climbed high into the tree and used the powers granted to him by the heavens to stretch really far to a tree way across a raging river. One by one the Monkey's quickly climbed across him as though he were a bridge. Thus the Human King ordered his men to shoot the Monkey King with its arrow."

Honey watched her listening intently.

"Now, the Human King was sure that the Monkey King would let go in order to avoid the arrow and that would leave all the Monkey's who hadn't yet crossed to safety helpless and able to be hunted. When the arrow was fired, it impaled the Monkey King in his stomach. Though bleeding and in pain, he did not let go. So the Human King ordered that his men fire another arrow. This one impaled his chest, but still he did not let go. When the last Monkey crossed to safety and the humans had fired all the arrows they brought, the Monkey King (at last) fell into the river and the Human King ordered that he be retrieved. His men pulled the Monkey King ashore and he asked, "Why Monkey King? Why did you let arrows impale you? You could have let go and swam to the safety." And the Monkey King responded, "But that is not what Kings do. We are Kings for a reason, and that reason is to protect and serve our people. We would not be made Kings if God did not see us fit to protect our own." Now, the Human King was so moved by the Monkey Kings words, that he went home and became the best King to ever live, because he then lived for his people and served them with the power granted to him by God."

"…" Honey blinked as the story ended, and she smiled at him.

"You look confused Mi-chan…"

"Did the Monkey King die?"

"No. However, he made the ultimate sacrifice for the people he served, and he remained forever far away from them on the other side of the very wide river. While his injuries did not kill him, he was far too wounded to stretch that far again, and there was no way anyone but the Monkey King in his fit state could have swam across with the current as it was. He never saw his subjects again, but at least they were safe."

"That's sad…" Honey said frowning.

"Kings and Masters are very similar Mi-chan. You should be willing to fight and protect your servants, friends and everyday citizens as well."

"I am!" Honey said happily. "I'll protect Takashi and my friends with my life!"

His grandmother smiled. "I'm glad to hear it. Now, let's go back inside. I have to talk to your mother about the sort of programming she's letting you watch."

"Huh?" Honey blinked. From that day until Honey was much older, he was prevented from watching Dogami.

* * *

The next day Honey had asked the family driver to take him to Takashi's house, when he arrived he ran quickly to where he thought Takashi would be. The calligraphy room. He burst in sliding the door open so fast that Takashi messed up the line he was writing. Honey ran over to him and fell to his knees in-front of Takashi. Incidentally, kneeling right on his artwork in the process.

He grabbed Takashi by his collar, pulled him close and kissed him. "I'm gonna be the best Master ever!" he announced proudly.

Takashi was so shocked he didn't move for a moment. He just started at him, and then Honey felt the ink soaking through his pant legs and looked down. "Oops!" he said standing up and frowning at the ruined calligraphy character.

"I'm sorry," Honey said frowning. Takashi shrugged and set it off to the side to dry.

The two then went off to play, and it was like their fight had never happened. The two did not kiss again for awhile. They were too young to really understand what they were doing, and to them it was very innocent. Just a sign of liking another person... Nothing more. Nothing less...

At the moment they were very close and very dear friends. It wasn't until their fourth year of elementary school that any sort of romantic feelings began to emerge, and it wasn't until then that their secret love was concealed forever in the stuffing of a small pink bunny named Usa-chan.


End file.
